County Executive Thomas P. Gordon and County Councilman Jea Street are pleased
to announce that the Route 9 Library/Innovation Center construction site is on target for crews to begin pouring concrete slabs this month.
“This is exciting because it means the public will finally be able to see real progress,” Gordon said. “Since we broke ground in September 2015, all the work has been underground, hidden to most. Soon after the first concrete pours in the next two weeks, the steel structures begin to go up in late July. It means the public will see that this is really happening.”
Councilman Street, whose district includes the Route 9 Corridor, shared his excitement over the progress with fellow council members at the June 14 meeting.
“I’m like a kid now,” Street said. “They’re pouring concrete, and I’m out there
seven days a week taking pictures. I’m real excited and truly grateful to this council.”
NCCTV’s Your County At Work with Waynna Dobson was recently on location at the
Route 9 Library/Innovation Center construction site to get an update from Steve Ruble, project administrator with the Department of Special Services; Diana Brown, manager of libraries for the Department of Community Services and Gregg Clark of EDiS, the construction manager.
Ruble said Greggo & Ferrara has done most of the site work while Enterprise did the masonry work. Carrow Construction did the concrete footings and will come back for the concrete slabs. Degli Obizzi & Sons has done the underground mechanical and plumbing work while Superior Electric has done the electrical work underground.
Tetra-tech is the lead and contractual architect, and Perkins+Will is supporting the
architectural design effort as well.
“We’ve been very busy since September 2015,” Ruble said. “The public doesn’t see it because we’re not out of the ground [yet]. All the footings are in. Foundation walls are in. Under slab prep is essentially done, and we’re getting ready for those first concrete pours. Murphy Steel will start its work in mid-July.”
Brown reiterated why this library was being called the Route 9 Innovation Center,
which would be a facility set amidst a high-tech backdrop.
“What we’re seeing nationally is the trend to create spaces for people and not just
library collections,” she said. “There will be a lot of spaces in this library that are
innovative.”
For more, please view episode 22 of Your County At Work at 8 p.m., midnight, 6 a.m. and 1:12 p.m. daily on Comcast Channel 22, Verizon Channel 29 and via streaming at www.YouTube.com/NCCDE.
Dobson and the rest of the talented NCCTV crew are scheduled to be back at the
Route 9 construction site for a follow-up show featuring some of the initial concrete pours at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The entrance to the construction site is directly across from Bowlerama on the 3000 block of New Castle Avenue. New Castle County Chief of Administrative Services Tonney Gardner will be among those at the film shoot to discuss how to get more local and minority vendors involved in this project.
The state-of-the-art Route 9 Library has received substantial State funding through
the support of Governor Jack Markell, State Senator Margaret Rose Henry, State
Representative JJ Johnson, and other members of the General Assembly. County
Executive Gordon also thanked Street, County Council President Chris Bullock,
Council President Pro Tempore Penrose Hollins and all of council for their support
as well as Gardner and his staff, the staff from Special Services led by Acting General Manager J. Wayne Merritt and Community Services led by General Manager
Sophia Hanson.
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